Under My Wing
by yutamiyu
Summary: Jareth and Sarah encounter each other once again...


Under My Wing: a Labyrinth fanfic  
By yutamiyu  
  
  
  
Jareth and Sarah encounter each other again...  
  
  
  
I land on a tree branch near the girl's window and peer inside.  
  
I knew it.  
  
She's crying on her bed.  
  
She has been like this for almost two months.  
  
Two months have passed since our encounter in my labyrinth. The child Toby is still safe and sound and most likely tucked away in his warm bed and stealing his parents' attention away from her.  
  
I chuckle to myself. This is the life she chose over one with me?  
  
And yet, seeing her this way tugs at my heart.  
  
Why?  
  
She moves--and I duck into the shadow of the tree. I watch as she picks up a book, bound tightly together in red leather. She flips through several pages and reads a passage, sighs longingly and turns to the last page. She scans the final page and her tears come back in earnest, and she throws the book across the room, burying her face in her hands and collapsing on the floor.  
  
What do I do now?  
  
Do I go and comfort her or do I stay forever in the shadows?  
  
Am I really content watching her from afar?  
  
I hesitate a bit longer before flying to her window and peck at the glass.  
  
She draws her head up and stares at the window. She does not see me: I am cloaked in the darkness of the night. She slowly rises to her feet and walks to her window, opening it.  
  
"Is anyone there?" she calls, poking her head out of the window and looking around. "Hello?"  
  
I take my opportunity and fly swiftly into her room. I hear her astonished gasp as her eyes follow me into the room, see her turn and quickly close the window. I am now trapped in this girl's room.  
  
How oddly appealing.  
  
I fly around the room until I find a suitable perch: her bedpost.  
  
She starts to approach me slowly, as though I were some kind of phantom. "What...are you doing here, little owl?" she asks gently.  
  
There is a sudden crash of thunder and her head turns back to the window she has just closed. I take the opportunity and hop onto the bed, changing into my true form: Jareth, king of the Goblins.  
  
"You really shouldn't be scared by something so simple as thunder, Sarah," I say, mocking her behavior. I file one of my nails with my thumbnail.  
  
Her head darts back around, and her eyes widen and remain fixed on me as her mind registers my identity.  
  
"...Jareth..." Her voice is soft, almost inaudible.  
  
I flash her an evil grin. "I'm back."  
  
She backs against the wall behind her. "...Jareth..." she repeats, only slightly louder than before. "...What...why are you here?" She thinks, and runs towards the door, putting herself between it and me. "You...you're not here for Toby...are you?"  
  
I chuckle. "No. I'm not here for the child. You won him back from me, don't you remember?"  
  
"Then why are you here?"  
  
"I came to see you, of course."  
  
"Why?"  
  
My gaze runs around her room. It's the same as it was two months ago, filled with tokens from fantasy worlds and make-believe. I do notice the missing teddy bear Lancelot from its normal shelf. I wonder what she did with that one.  
  
"You still dream, Sarah," I state. "About the labyrinth. About your experience. About me." I see her blush and I grin. "Especially about me, it would seem. I thought that I would do you a favor and let you see me again. Convince yourself that it wasn't a dream."  
  
"It wasn't..." she says softly, dropping her head. "I know that..."  
  
I stand up. "Why do you deny me, then?"  
  
"I...I don't deny you..."  
  
"You deny my existence." I take a step towards her. "Why can you allow yourself to see your other friends in your mirror...and not see me?"  
  
"I...can't."  
  
My eyes fall to the discarded book on the ground and I pick it up and read the final passage. "You have no power over me", it reads. I remember her saying this. I am shocked to find that she has scratched it out with a pen.  
  
"Sarah," I ask, holding the book towards her, showing her the pen markings from across the room, "what have you done?"  
  
She looks at the book, and her eyes begin to fill with tears once again.  
  
"Has it been so hard for you?"  
  
She nods, and wipes some of her tears away with the back of her hand.  
  
I walk towards her, closing the distance between us. "Sarah," I say gently, "this..." I shake the book in my hand. "...is only that. A book. A book cannot tell you what you do and do not feel." I place the book upon the table next to us, and tuck a finger under her chin, lifting her face up to look at mine. "In the labyrinth, your own heart told you what to do. You borrowed the lines from that book to defeat me. Your heart conveyed the message in the form of those words. In the end, it was your own power that defeated me. Not a book."  
  
She suddenly pushes herself forward and presses her lips softly against mine.  
  
Sarah...  
  
What...  
  
What are you doing, Sarah?  
  
"You're wrong," she whispers upon my lips, and backs her head away from mine again, staring down at the floor.  
  
"Sarah--"  
  
"You're wrong!" she breaks in, still refusing to meet my gaze. Her voice becomes much softer. "I...I didn't realize myself...in the labyrinth...but..." She looks up into my eyes. "I was just thinking...how much I wanted to see you..."  
  
I am taken aback.  
  
This girl...surprises me.  
  
I had thought myself immune to shock.  
  
I find myself leaning towards her and placing a kiss upon her lips. Softly, at first, then more demanding as I find that she wants it just as much as I.  
  
When we break our kiss we simply stare into each other's eyes, our minds conveying what our mouths cannot. She embraces me tightly.  
  
"Will you protect me...will you love me...forever?"  
  
I wrap my arms around her and nod in affirmation.  
  
Isn't that why I came back?  
  
She's all I've been looking for...I want to protect her...right?  
  
I take her under my wing...and into my heart.  
  
  
~End~  



End file.
